Christians on animal testing

"Medical and scientific experimentation on animals is morally acceptable within reasonable limits+ if it contributes to caring for/ saving human lives"

Catechism 2418

"It is contrary to human dignity to cause animals to suffer or die needlessly."

By letting animals die, we are turning less human

"It is likewise unworthy to spend money on them that should as a priority go to the relief of human misery. One can love animals, but one should not direct to them the affection due only to persons. "

If it involves the saving of human lives, it is permissable

Catechism 2416

"Animals are God's creatures. By their mere existence they bless him and give him glory. We should recall the gentleness with which Saints like St. Francis of Assisi treated animals"

Generally speaking,...

Traditional view

Humans are made in God's image, very different from other animals.

We're special+ have been given 'dominion' over nature.

Can use animals to meet our own needs+ don't need to worry about their well-being

We are capable of having a personal relationship with the creator

God didn't give them souls-> no heaven

But! Some say that God made all animals sacred-> saw that they were good.

Gave humans 'stewardship' over animals

We need to care for them

Animals were brought to Adam by God to name them-> superiority

Quakers

Divided

Some are doctors+ medical researchers who hold licences for experimentation

It is acceptable when "the latter would justify their actions by citing the beneficial results"

"We do not own the world+ its riches are not ours to dispose of at will. Show a loving consideration towards all creatures+ seek to maintain the beauty+ the variety of the world"

Animals are part of God's creation-> wrong to abuse them. Whatever we do to animals, we should carry out in a humane manner without causing unnecessary suffering

We have a duty towards God's creation-> stewardship

Methodists

A Methodist Statement on the Treatment of Animals, 1980

"It should be horrying that millions of animals are killed every year in laboratory experiments, but most of them have been bred for this purpose+ the outcome is valuable advance in human+ veterinary medicine"

"Unnecessary experimentation (e.g. cosmetics)+ the use of animals when valid results could be secured from tissue cultures, are to be condemned"

CofE

Responsibility for the Living Environment, 1986

"The fact that animals may be used in scientific procedures for the benefit of people shows that we believe that human beings have more value than animals. But the fact that we try to minimise the pain+ suffering animals may have to undergo shows that we regard them as having an intrinsic value"

Recognises the need for animals to be used in research to improve medical understanding, but says that they should receive careful+ sympathetic treatment.

Moral Issues 77

"The value of animals has always been seen as secondary to that of human beings, who are made in God's image and are placed in a central position in creation.

St. Francis of Assisi

Wrote the Canticle of the Creatures- an ode to all living things

"All praise to you, Oh Lord, for all these brother and sister creatures"

Preached the teaching of the Catholic Church that the world was created good+ beautiful by God

But suffers a need for redemption due to the primordial sin of man

Preached to man+ creatures the duty of everyone to praise God+ enjoy nature as both stewards of God's creation+ as creatures ourselves

RC Catholic Saint

Baptists

"Sympathetic to the use of animals in medical research but less enthusiastic about their use in cosmetic products"